Friday, 26 April 2013

The Crown Estate - the UK's sixth largest land owner - declares: "Cycling is good for business" and "We agree with you that what cyclists really need are safe and segregated cycle lanes as suggested by the Mayor in his ‘Vision for Cycling’"

Over the past fortnight, I have commented on plans to re-design the roads in the streets south of Piccadilly Circus. The works will narrow many of the roads in a way that will make it more hazardous to travel by bicycle than the current hairy arrangements in this area.

The proposed works are to be and the ultimate design are by Westminster council, however, the funding and overall strategy is led by The Crown Estate. The Estate is a property business that manages property which is owned by the Crown but is not the private property of the monarch. It is the sixth largest landowner in the country and is governed by an Act of Parliament and its profits go to the Treasury for the benefit of the nation.The area around Regents Street and St. James's is directly owned by the Crown Estate. It therefore has a pivotal say in what the heart of the West End looks like and how it works.

The Crown Estate is a significant land owner and developer. What the Crown Estate thinks and does matters not only on Regent Street but around the country. I am delighted that the Peter Bourne, development manager of the Crown Estate has responded to my blog posts in an informative email that contains some highly significant statements.

I will let Peter's email talk for itself but have taken the liberty of bolding the lines that should make local authorities and land owners around the country sit up and take notice. See for yourselves:

We have created 500 secure cycle parking spaces, complete with lockers and showers, in our buildings with another 500 on the way in buildings under construction. We have also provided some 100 on street cycle parking stands and are looking to increase this number.

We are also working to reduce traffic and congestion in the local area, for the benefit of both pedestrians and cyclists. 10% of traffic on Regent Street is from goods vehicles, so we created a delivery consolidation scheme that now involves a quarter of the Street’s shops. This award winning project sees retailers bring their goods to a consolidation centre outside of London, from where they are then brought to store by electric lorry. This means 75-80% fewer deliveries, less traffic and less pollution. We have a similar project to reduce office deliveries that uses cargo bikes.

We agree with you that what cyclists really need, however, are safe and segregated cycle lanes as suggested by the Mayor in his ‘Vision for Cycling’. Within days of that report being published we met with Transport for London and proposed a north-south route running from The Mall to Regents Park. There is still some work to be done on this, but we hope that it could be implemented before the end of 2014.

Our support for cycling is part of a wider commitment to sustainability, which is why we are also investing in making Regent Street safer and more welcoming for pedestrians. We also know that the completion of Crossrail and tube network upgrades will bring 20-25% more pedestrians into central London, so wider pavements and improved pedestrian facilities are essential.

Proposed improvements to Lower Regent Street and Haymarket, which your post focuses on, are part of this commitment. They build on the success of the Oxford Circus diagonal crossing and the re-introduction of two-way traffic around Piccadilly Circus, which we also helped design and co-fund. All these schemes seek to better manage congestion and reduce pollution, whilst the new road surfaces and improved traffic easing measures that they bring also benefit cyclists.

The more recent blog makes some specific proposals: “What Westminster needs to do here.”

• Create a two way system for bikes: that is what our north-south routes does; albeit not on Haymarket/Regent Street.
• Bike access from Shaftsbury Avenue to Piccadilly along the current bus- only lane: the scheme proposes this.
• Piccadilly/St James’s bike lanes: the new Boris east-west cycle route will run along Bird Cage Walk and the existing route along The Mall will link into this, in turn (subject to approvals) linking in to our proposed north-south route through Soho and up to Regents Park to create a fully joined safe network.

We know that traffic, congestion and pollution are amongst the top concerns of businesses, residents and visitors to the West End. So tackling these issues and making the area more welcoming to pedestrians and cyclists alike is good for business as much as it is for the environment and visitors. This strategy drives our investment and our plans for the local area. We hope that this reassures you that The Crown Estate is and will remain a firm supporter of cyclists in London.

We anticipate that your readers would like to see a response from The Crown Estate on the issues you raise. I am therefore proposing to post a version of this note as a comment.

I would like to invite you to visit Regent Street where I would be happy to give you a tour of the cycle friendly schemes we have implemented and brief you on our future proposals, including the north-south cycle route we are working on. Please could you let me know when you could make such a meeting. "